In this second column, we are returning to the old Bath Portland Cement Company on the present site of the Keystone Cement Company quarry property on Route 329 in East Allen Township. The manager and vice president at the time was Fred Franks, a leader in the local cement industry.

Mrs. Barbara Wiemann, former librarian at the Easton Area Public Library and historian for the Gov. George Wolf Historical Society, has researched the history of the company and has allowed us to print her scholarly writing for our loyal readers.

In the last column, there was a shareholder dispute over the management of the company which was resolved after legal proceedings.

Despite the boardroom drama, Franks had his mill running efficiently. An October 1912 advertisement solicited 50 new workers from Easton who were advised that they could find steady work at good wages at BPCC. Prospective employees could travel to work by taking a trolley to Nazareth and then Bath.

By February 1914, the company declared an 8% dividend and the shareholder factions made peace. The plant was capitalized at $1.5 million dollars. Franks, who was lauded for his improvements, was reappointed. The directors authorized building a clinker storage plant, including a traveling crane, with a capacity of 150,000 barrels. The new crane was a modern electric grab bucket model, 80 feet wide and 300 feet long, to handle hot clinker from the kilns and, after cooling, deposit it in the grinding mill.

At the January 1915 annual meeting, Franks was again praised and reelected general manager. Shareholders agreed to build a new $150,000 stock house that would enable BPCC to manufacture during dull periods and store their cement until needed. The directors also approved making a strong effort to secure South American business formerly dominated by Belgium and Germany, but now interrupted by World War I.

In October 1915, more than 40 BPCC employees petitioned the Lehigh and New England Railroad to resume the discontinued passenger service between Bath and the plant. With winter approaching, walking or bicycling from Bath was not feasible, and the men declared the railroad owed them and the community this route. Service was restored.

Transportation to work was not the only danger. The first reported worker death was in June 1905 during construction when a workman fell off a wagon and became entangled in the horses’ harness. Broken limbs and ribs, amputations, concussions, abrasions and contusions were regularly reported in the local newspapers. After Jacob Hartzell was drawn into a crusher and killed, his widow and two children were awarded $2,195.47 compensation.

One type of employee not usually associated with a cement mill was a farmer. The company purchased more than 300 acres of land to ensure a reserve of rock for future use. But until needed, the former farms not yet quarried could be put to good use.

In 1915, an ad sought a farmer who would work 125 good acres for half of the crop. An ad in 1921 specified BPCC needed someone who could milk cows and “understand” chickens.

The 1916 annual meeting again noted the company’s prosperous year and the large contracts in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The New York cement was building subways.

Due to increasing heavy orders, Sun Shipbuilding of Chester, erected a new engine to power plant operations, and BPCC purchased a new steam shovel to remove topping in the quarry. To accommodate new workers, BPCC built four new double-frame homes and purchased two more two-ton trucks that were used to transport workers to the plant.

A service appreciated by the community was the fire control efforts of BPCC. In October 1916, a fire in Bath was extinguished by a chemical truck from BPCC. In response to a fire in a large stone home one mile south of Bath, BPCC sent a generous corps of men with their first aid equipment. Their good work kept the loss to $1,000.

At the annual shareholders’ meeting in 1918, control of the company passed to two Philadelphia investors and Franks, who was named first vice president in charge of operations. The new owners were eager to enlarge the mill and increase output. To do this, Franks set off the largest blast in cement industry history, placing charges 105 feet deep along a 600-foot front in the quarry. Enough rock was loosened to supply the plant for six months.

The only deterrent to progress was the influenza epidemic, which shut the plant for a week.

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In the next column, the Bath Portland Cement Company will become home to a new cement company that our readers will recognize. See you in two weeks.